"Tab-Napping" - New Internet Security Threat

Most people using the Internet these days are aware of fraudulent emails, purporting to be from their bank, credit card company or similar, and have learnt to ignore the dubious log in links which may be contained therein. However, there is a new, more alarming security threat which has now come to light.

Say, for example, you open a tab and go to your bank's website, but then decide to check another website in another tab, leaving the bank tab inactive. While you are on the other tab, the scammers may replace the bank page with malicious code, though it looks just like the web page you originally opened. When you return to this inactive tab and log in to your bank, your security details are actually sent to the fraudster. The scammer may customise the attack by checking the user's browser history.

There are ways to prevent this from happening, such as always checking the URL before entering any of your security details, ensuring that https appears, together with the padlock. Otherwise, re-enter the URL to be certain or open each web page in a new window, rather than a new tab.

Click here for more details.